This paper presents an adaptive amplifier that is part of a sensor node in a wireless sensor network. The system presents a target gain that has to be maintained without direct human intervention despite the presence of faults. In addition, its bandwidth must be as large as possible. The system is composed of a software-based built-in self-test scheme implemented in the node that checks all the available gains in the amplifiers, a reconfigurable amplifier, and a genetic algorithm (GA) for reconfiguring the node resources that runs on a host computer. We adopt a PSoC device from Cypress for the node implementation. The performance evaluation of the scheme presented is made by adopting four different types of fault models in the amplifier gains. The fault simulation results show that GA finds the target gain with low error, maintains the bandwidth above the minimum tolerable bandwidth, and presents a runtime lower than exhaustive search method.
This paper explores the feasibility of an adaptive scheme to tolerate degradations in a high-order low-pass filter, taken as a case study. The adaptation is achieved through an evolvable hardware strategy that employs reconfigurable hardware and a genetic algorithm (GA). For establishing the filter reconfiguration, it is considered that it is tested periodically during in-field operation using Transient Analysis Method (TRAM). If TRAM founds that the filter does not fulfill the specifications, then the AG, which runs on an external computer, searches a new set of configurable parameters that allows the filter reaching the specifications. Then, the hardware is configured with these new parameters for continuing its normal operation. For the proposed scheme, simulation results show the TRAM feasibility when certain restrictions are taken for its implementation. The AG evaluation is performed through fault simulation, using four fault models that consider deviations in circuital parameters. The results show that AG founds, in all fault conditions simulated, solutions with errors smaller than the tolerable ones, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed scheme.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.